Hand tinting Changing season

The next stage follows on from the previous exercise and illustrates how with hand tinting you can change the season at will. The first snowfall has arrived at our autumn scene and the brown and gold tones will soon be covered with a layer of snow. Many of the autumn leaves are still on the trees, so you can use your final version to build on or use the new starting version provided on the DVD.

Figure 10.29 New starting photograph.

Step 1 File> Open> DVD> Step-by-step files> '10 First snow at Hodge tarn'. When you compare this starting version with the previously completed picture in Figure 10.28 you will see some differences and if you are using your own version you will need to take the following steps.

Reduce the opacities of all the layers in your picture, the opacities will change to between 26% and 64% and the intention is to lower the strength of color prior to adding the snow. The layer with the tree on the right that was still green in color will look completely wrong so delete this layer. Make a new layer in its place and with the Sponge brush, paint over a light covering of autumn colors to blend with the rest of the picture. This should now look like the starting picture in Figure 10.29. Step 2 Open the Mixer palette and click the waste bin to remove any existing colors. Add blue and white into the Mixer in various shades and mix them together. Figure 10.30 shows the Mixer palette. Step 3 Rather than using the Mixer palette again from which to paint I would like you to make a new Color Set. If the palette is not on screen, show it from Window> Color Palettes> Show Color Sets. Click the Mixer palette menu and select New Color Set from Mixer Pad. This will make a color set which should

The Mixer palette.

resemble that in Figure 10.31 and can be used to select colors to paint the rest of the picture.

The blue shades will be needed to introduce cooler areas into the picture where the light is being reflected from the blue sky. As the brush will be used at a low opacity the colors will also be much weaker than they appear in the Color Set.

Step 4 Make a new layer on top of the layer stack, if you are using your own multi-layered file it is advisable to make a duplicate document and drop all the layers to keep the file size down. This time the layers will be in the Default layer composite method rather than using Color as the snow should look as though it is lying on top of the trees and grasses.

Step 5 Select the Sponge> Glazing Sponge 60, brush size 60.0 and opacity 20%. Dab lightly over the picture with some blue shades to generally cool the atmosphere down. Change the color regularly by clicking in the Color Set palette. Step 6 Make another new layer and work on the tree on the left, use brush size 161.0 and opacity 44%. This brush will give a very textured finish, so keep making multiple brush dabs over the tree until the foliage texture looks good. Figure 10.32 shows the tree. At all stages vary both the colors and the size and opacity of the brush to give more variety to the texture.

Step 7 Make a new layer again for the ferns and using the same Sponge brush, dab these with a light blue color. Change the brush to Opaque Acrylic 10 size 5.4, opacity 65%. Use this small brush to make brush dabs with white following the lines of the ferns, we are effectively painting snow on the top of the fronds. Push the opacity up

Figure 10.33

Ferns.

Figure 10.33

Ferns.

towards 100% on some of the most prominent fronds. Step 8 Make a new layer and paint the tree on the right with the Glazing Sponge size 7.5, opacity 85%. Additional texture can be added with the Opaque Acrylic brush. Figure 10.34 shows the effect. Step 9 Paint the background trees with the large Sponge brush, size 161.0, opacity 44%, lightly covering the area with white. Finish off the rest of the picture using the same brushes and finally use the separate layer opacities to balance the picture if required. Figure 10.35 shows the final scene on a winter day.

Figure 10.34

Detail of the snow covered tree.

Figure 10.34

Detail of the snow covered tree.

Figure 11.1

Flower girl.

Chapter 7 shows how to merge photographs by cloning from two pictures and this is how this picture was made. The bottom layer was painted over with Chalk and Pastel brushes and on a new layer on top the girl was cloned in with Soft Cloner and then reworked with Pastel and RealBristle brushes.

Become the artist you want to be Canvas Painting for the Beginner. Have you always wanted to paint but did not know the first thing about it? Have you sketched thousands of pictures in your sketch book and wanted to put them on canvas? Now you can with the help of this book. We teach you everything to get you started in the wonderful world of fine arts. You can learn to express yourself with color.